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Murphy Brown 2-10 Candice Bergen

by: Diane English

Publication date: 1988-11-14
Topics: murphy brown, candice bergen, sitcom, tv
Language: English
Item Size: 41.8G

Murphy Brown is an American television sitcom created by Diane English that premiered on November 14, 1988, on CBS. The series stars Candice Bergen as the eponymous Murphy Brown, a famous investigative journalist and news anchor for FYI, a fictional CBS television newsmagazine, and later for Murphy in the Morning, a cable morning news show.

The series originally ran until May 18, 1998, after airing a total of 247 episodes over ten seasons.

Murphy Brown (Candice Bergen) is a recovering alcoholic who, in the show's first episode, returns to the fictional newsmagazine FYI for the first time following a stay at the Betty Ford Clinic residential treatment center. Over 40 and single, she is sharp-tongued and hard as nails. In her profession, she is considered one of the boys, having shattered many glass ceilings encountered during her career. Dominating the FYI news magazine, she is portrayed as one of America's hardest-hitting (though not the warmest or most sympathetic) media personalities.

Her colleagues at FYI include stuffy veteran anchor Jim Dial (Charles Kimbrough), who affectionately addresses Murphy as "Slugger" and reminisces about the glory days of Murrow and Cronkite. Murphy's best friend and sometime competitor is investigative reporter Frank Fontana (Joe Regalbuto), the only person who addresses her as "Murph". Though a daredevil reporter, insecurities regarding fame and (especially) his personal relationships have him in psychotherapy for the majority of the series. In early seasons, there was a running gag about Frank's toupée, which he hated, but which producers insisted he wear on the show.

Also present are the two newest members of the FYI team. Miles Silverberg (Grant Shaud), a 25-year-old yuppie Harvard graduate and overachiever fresh from public television, is appointed the new executive producer of FYI during Murphy's stay at Betty Ford. Naive and neurotic despite his lightning intellect, Miles is the perfect foil for Murphy's wit. Shaud left at the end of the eighth season, and his character was replaced during Season 9 by veteran TV producer Kay Carter-Shepley (Lily Tomlin). Kay did not have a background in journalism but instead had made a career as a producer of game shows.

The other new-kid-on-the-block is Corky Sherwood (Faith Ford), who replaced Murphy during her stint in rehab. A former Miss America from the (fictional) town of Neebo, Louisiana, Corky is the bane of the other journalists with her perky, relentlessly sunny personality—and dumbfounding lack of sophistication. Due to overwhelming audience reaction, management decides to retain Corky's services after Murphy's return, usually assigning her to lifestyle pieces or lightweight celebrity profiles. Despite her omnipresent perkiness, Corky does mature and acquires a fair amount of worldliness over the years, not the least of which comes courtesy of her marriage to high school classmate and writer Will Forest (during which she humorously and cluelessly amends her on-air surname to "Corky Sherwood-Forest"), subsequent divorce, and later elopement with Miles, immediately after which the couple has second thoughts — even before consummating the relationship — and decides they should "first" date (despite already being married to one another), eventually separating on good terms.

The FYI team also frequently socializes at Phil's, a bar-and-grill across the street from their office/studio in Washington, D.C. Phil, the bar owner, was played by Pat Corley. Phil's was portrayed as a Washington institution, whose owner knew everything about everybody who had ever been anybody in the capital—ranging from what brand of lingerie J. Edgar Hoover preferred to the identity of Deep Throat (unknown to the public at the time of the series' production). In a running gag during early seasons, whenever someone entered Phil's (casting bright sunlight from the open door into the dark, murky bar), the patrons shouted in unison, "Close the door!"

Brown was unmarried, but had a home life as well: she hired a laid-back, New Age philosophy-dispensing house painter named Eldin Bernecky (Robert Pastorelli) to repaint her house. He had so many grand ideas that he was in her employ for six seasons. Because he was a highly talented artist, his renovations were often delayed when he was struck by the urge to paint socially relevant murals throughout the house.

Addeddate: 2023-03-23 19:51:21
Collection_added: classic_tv
television
Identifier: 20230323_20230323_1949
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